FARA Charity Shops 2015 Appeal

Ten miles away from the nearest proper road, sixty families share a well in a village where the houses are patched up with plastic. Sanitation barely exists and disease goes untreated with little or no medical support. This is the situation right now in Europe in the forgotten village of Bahna Arini in a remote part of North-East Romania.

Why is FARA Shops ‘Raising The Roof On Poverty’?

The village of Bahna Arini is in Suceava District a very rural and remote part of Romania where economic opportunities and infrastructure are limited. Many families, and children in particular, are affected by high unemployment, alcoholism, domestic violence and family breakup caused by work migration. The families are isolated and live in terrible conditions with little access to services that even one of Europe's poorest countries take for granted. The children of this community are destined to continue in a life of extreme poverty with limited educational provision. There is no transport to schools and many of them don’t even have shoes. FARA is working to change this and has provided support to communities in the Suceava region for over 20 years. FARA Foundation is deeply committed to its rural development programmes.FARA will Raise The Roof On Poverty by:

Lifting the chances of the kids in these areas, breaking the poverty cycle by encouraging them to stay in school - tackling poverty through education. School dropout rates, beginning at primary school level, are very high. For every year of education achieved, the chance of a child ending up in poverty reduces by 5%. FARA will continue to provide targeted support to the families of these children. It organises after-school classes where some of the children are given extra tuition and help with their homework. FARA's incentives to education are in the form of food (a daily nutritious hot meal – for most of the children this is their only meal that day.) FARA will expand this provision to a wider number of children in 2015 including nursery/reception age children.

FARA will literally raise the roof on poverty by helping families to improve their homes (houses may lack a proper roof, windows, or heating.) Also by supplying them with essential equipment to improve their quality of living from starter packs of seeds to cooking utensils.

It is simple: FARA aims to provide vitally needed support to this village community which in the past has been totally lacking. Deprivation is a vicious cycle. Lack of work creates family poverty which undermines education which, in turn hinders employability. The challenge for FARA is to break the cycle. But while we are at it, a hot meal is a good start to lift community morale.

FARA Charity Shops supporting the work of FARA
Charity transforming the lives of vulnerable and disadvantaged children and young people in Romania.
FARA Enterprises Limited is wholly owned by the FARA Foundation. Registered Charity No. 1139349